You never know where you’ll find the next great idea.
While scrolling through Fast Company (admittedly one of my favorite sites) I found an article that caught my eye: “4 Ways to Create Meaningful Content.” Considering that as a freelance writer I spend a lot of time creating content for websites, it was most certainly something I wanted to read…and I’m glad I did. Here’s why:
Several years ago the world of SEO, or search engine optimization, was being built on a variety of ideas ranging from how many times a word or phrase should appear on a page to using “link farms” to make the site look more relevant that it really was–and everything in between. Working in the industry, I understood the theory, but never cared for it or put it into practice. I believed, as did those with whom I worked, any content included on a website must provide good information that was authentic to the client.
The Google Penguin updates in 2013 helped to address many of the so-called “Black Hat” SEO techniques, and by doing so, placing greater emphasis on good content. Now, as this article suggests, the industry as a whole is focusing on incorporating meaningful content on both websites and social media platforms. So what is “meaningful” content?
Author Dan Greenberg proposes such content include or more of the following:
- It provides a connection between the content owner and the audience they are targeting.
- It introduces new or original ideas.
- It shows new uses of media or helps mediums evolve
- It causes the reader or viewer engage with the content
Creating good and meaningful content isn’t easy, but it is well worth the the time or monetary investment it requires.
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